1. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
In about 3200 BC the two earliest civilizations develop in the
region where southwest Asia joins northeast Africa. The
Sumerians (Mesopotamia) settle in what is now southern
Iraq, between the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates river.
The first known potter's wheel, dating from around this
period, has been found in Mesopotamia. And a Sumerian
ruler, the semi-historical Gilgamesh, is hero of the world's
earliest surviving work of literature. The next region to develops is
Egypt which in the long narrow strip of the Nile valley.
In the early centuries, and again in the closing stages of
ancient Egypt, the capital is at Memphis, near modern-day
Cairo. The pyramids remain today to show the early
greatness of Memphis, in the period known as the Old
Kingdom. In about 2500 BC the river becomes the
lifeline of a much more highly developed civilization,
based on two places which are unmistakably
cities - Harappa and Mohenjo-daro which is in
India. Life in the Indus valley cities seems to
have been highly regulated. Northern China, in
the plains around the Huang Ho (or Yellow
River), bears evidence of more continuous
human development than any other region on
earth. Its history begins in a characteristically
independent manner. There are no identifiable precedents for the civilization
of the Shang dynasty, which emerges in China in about 1600 BC. Its superb
bronze vessels seem to achieve an instant technological perfection. Its
written texts introduce characters recognizably related to Chinese writing today. This is a
civilization which begins as it will continue - with confidence.
